So having managed to swap Elaine's shift, I entered 2 teams. Rachel then had to pull out, but Alfie was going to stand in. So still 2 teams of 4 dogs. The next potential problem was whether or not Tess would run. Merlin then went lame……………I either had too many dogs for 1 team, and too few for 2! I spent the week running up to Portway trying to pull dogs out/ re-arrange teams, in an effort to accommodate everyone. But it wasn't going to work!
So finally 8pm Friday night, it was decided the team was going to be Meg, Molly,Spencer, Tosh & Tess, Katie was going to race in multibreed on Sunday with a Wolf Pack team, but under our name, so she can still race at Anglessey……………….
Race 1: Hotdogs 'v' Molton Muzzles - Tosh, Meg, Spencer (run by Vicki) & Molly -The very first leg we won, as the Muzzles had BO (no……..they 'broke out'!) we then had a light. So 1-1. We narrowly lost the 3rd race, and won the 4th. It was all down to the last race, I had been inching up on the starts, everyone else had been inching up on their passes, and we just lost the last race, with our best time 19.05. lost 3-2
Race 2: Hotdogs 'v' Allsorts - Tess, Meg, Spencer (run by Anne) & Molly - Tess used the warm up time to practice with wings in, and with no opposition, we decided to race her. And she raced well. I managed to catch Spencer, held onto his harness, as he whooshed between my legs. I held on until I realised I was going to do a somersault if I didn't let go, and ended up on my kness! We won 3-0 (Surprise, surprise!)
Race 3: Hotdogs 'v' Mansfield Marnicks - Tess, Meg, Tosh & Molly - Change of lane, so Tess used the warm up time, and went on to race. Lost the 1st leg, so Vicki pushed the start, and got a light. In that same leg, Tosh totally mis-timed his 1st jump, hit it, but then crashed through the 2nd jump, knocking it right out of the racing lane. The race was stopped, and we had to re-run. And we lost again! (Tosh put in a short half stide, so loosing a bit of time) And in the last race, Tess had tired, and ran out, and I got a light! So lost 3-0, best time 19.51
Race 4: Hotdogs 'v' Go Fours -Tosh, Tess, Meg & Spencer (run by Dave!) - On the few occasions we've raced this team, I think we've always lost……….and so we did in the 1st leg. Tosh had got back into his stride by going first, and Tess (apparently!) likes going after Tosh. If we were going to win, we had to pull up on our start & passes, and we obviously managed it, as we went on to win 3-1, best time 19.13
Race 5: Hotdogs 'v' Barney Owlers - Tosh, Tess, Spencer (run by Pete) & Molly - Again Tess was given a go, having changed lanes. And again, she proved herself (to be older than she was last week!!). We just lost the 1st leg, but only by a whisker. So we went with those 4 again. This time Sam had to go and ask the times, and it was a tie! As Tess had tired in the morning session, we pulled her out, so she finished on a good note, and brought Meg back in. Again, we weren't far behind, but just didn't make it back fast enough, so lost 3-0 (+1 tie!), best time 19.44.
We had some excellent racing. Tess ran well, and once racing behind Tosh, she sped up. And She is now Tess FD! I think she can lay claim to being the youngest dog we've ever had gaining her FD title. Well done to both Tess & Vicki.
We came 4th in Div 2, best time 19.05.
Although I didn't go Sunday, Elaine took Katie and ran in Bassett Doggy Mixtures, in the multibreed competition. She apparently found passing a little difficult at times. But at least they had fun! They came 3rd, best time 20.??
Katie was also entered in singles, where she clocked a 4.89 secs, over 8" jumps, coming 12th.